Now, with incredible hubris, a coalition of dissident groups is calling on Pope Francis to remove the CDF mandate and apologize to the LCWR and to Sister of St. Joseph Elizabeth Johnson, a feminist theologian chosen for LCWR’s highest honor this year in spite of the fact that the U.S. bishops had cited one of her books for doctrinal errors.

The so-called Nun Justice Project released a May 15 letter asking the Pope to intervene personally and remove the CDF mandate of reform. Signing onto the Nun Justice Project letter are groups that include the Women’s Ordination Conference, Voice of the Faithful, Call to Action and the Association of Roman Catholic Womenpriests.

With friends like these, the LCWR may find it difficult to convince people that the Vatican misunderstands the organization, as LCWR contended in a May 8 public statement after the April 30 annual visit of LCWR leaders to the Vatican.

The CDF prefect did not issue any new mandates for the LCWR when he met with the officers, but he did say that the organization must show “more substantive signs of collaboration” for implementing the mandate of reform ordered by the CDF in 2012 because of doctrinal problems within the organization. And he expressed his concern that the LCWR is strongly promoting “conscious evolution,” a theory influenced by eco-spirituality, mysticism and Eastern religions that holds humans can evolve by choice to a super-human level.

Cardinal Müller pointed out that, “The fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian Revelation,” and because they had strayed so far from the heart of Church teaching, he questioned whether the LCWR sisters even could recognize the divergences from Christian faith in that theory.

An internal memo was sent to LCWR members by the group’s officers after their April 30 meeting with the CDF and prior to their May 8 public statement. Obtained by reporter Jason Calvi of EWTN News Nightly, the memo stated that LCWR officers told the CDF they were “exploring these areas of contemporary culture, not proposing them” or “using them to replace our firm commitment to the Christological foundation of consecrated life.”

However, that position may be hard to defend, for as Cardinal Müller observed in his statement, ever since futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard spoke on conscious evolution at the 2012 LCWR assembly — which had the theme “Mystery Unfolding: Living in the Evolutionary Now” — the LCWR newsletters and its journal Occasional Papers have treated conscious evolution extensively. He also noted that, “We have even seen some religious Institutes modify their directional statements to incorporate concepts and undeveloped terms from Conscious Evolution.”

Cardinal Müller also said that the choice of Sister Elizabeth Johnson for the LCWR leadership award “further alienates the LCWR from the Bishops as well.”

What he did not say is that the LCWR’s annual award has a history of provocation and alienation: In 2012, the award was given to Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Sandra Schneiders, who had led resistance to the Holy See’s 2009-2011 apostolic visitation of women religious. In 2011, the award went to Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity and president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association. Sister Carol helped secure passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), in spite of warnings by the U.S. bishops that the law allowed for funding abortion and did not protect conscience rights.

The LCWR’s internal memo defended the choice of Sister Elizabeth and reported that LCWR officers told the CDF that it was “distressing” that “one aspect in one book” cast a shadow on all of her work. The memo did not mention the U.S. bishops’ 2011 21-page critique of Sister Elizabeth’s Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (Continuum, 2007) and found the book contained “misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors that bear upon the faith of the Catholic Church.”

The bishops particularly noted that her view of “panentheism” (the infusion of God into all matter) “undermines God’s transcendence, in that God’s manner of existence, as Creator, would no longer differ in kind, but only in degree, from that of all else that exists.”

The Church generally allows reasonable speculation by theologians among themselves, but the bishops wrote that they issued the extensive critique of Quest for the Living God because the book was written not for specialists in theology but for “a broad audience.”

Nor was this the only work of Sister Elizabeth that has caused concern, for some of her other works have raised questions, such as She Who Is: the Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse (Crossroad Publishing Co., 1992). That book is a feminist rethinking of the names and images for God with the expressed goal of transforming institutional patriarchal structures and liberating women from an inferior, oppressed status.

The May 8 LCWR public statement concluded that communication between LCWR leaders and the CDF has “broken down,” and more dialogue is needed. The truth is that the past two years of talks between the LCWR and the CDF apostolic delegate charged with overseeing the reform, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, had made little-to-no progress, so there was not much to break down. The only progress reported by Cardinal Müller was on revision of the LCWR statutes and civil bylaws.

For years, the LCWR’s answer to concerns of the Holy See has been to “dialogue” further. The former prefect of the CDF who originally issued the mandate in 2012, Cardinal William Levada, alluded to that pattern when he characterized the 2008-2012 CDF talks with the LCWR that preceded and prompted issuance of the mandate as “a dialogue of the deaf.” Had that dialogue succeeded, there would have been no mandate.

Cardinal Müller’s remarks to the LCWR leaders on April 30 seems to indicate that the Holy See’s patience with dialogue is close to expiring, and now the CDF wants to see some action, even if it is upsetting groups like the so-called Roman Catholic Womenpriests.

Comments

Don, I am sorry to hear about your school experience with sisters. I know many people who were taught by sisters, and I believe your experience was rare. I never witnessed any such abuse in my 12 years of being taught by sisters. But looking back, I now realize that the disruptive kids in my classes could very likely have had ADHD, a diagnosis not made in those days. So I can imagine that a sister with 50 or more kids in a classroom might have been desperate to bring some order to her classroom. Also, I found in researching my books that sometimes orders assigned elderly or ailing sisters to parishes where the order’s superior did not get along with the pastor as a way of keeping father in line by sending sisters not up to the task. So, some of these poor sisters were trying to cope with situations they were not well equipped to handle, but I doubt any sister thought she could “make” a child “holy” by beating him or her. It seems that “torture” is really too strong a word for having an adolescent hold books in outstretched arms and being rapped on the knuckles with a 1/2-inch-diameter pointer. Nevertheless, I am glad that the schools now have more enlightened ways of dealing with students who are disruptive.

Posted by Don Antonio on Saturday, Aug 9, 2014 8:21 AM (EST):

Maybe it is time to expose the child abuse these dear sisters committed in their classrooms in the 50’s. They tried to make kids holy by beating the hell out of us. The torture they inflicted…remember kneeling with arms outstretched and geography books piled on…if you lowered your arms they would beat you with the pointer on the top of your hands causing you to pull your arms up again. Banging heads into the blackboard, paddling, and beating with rulers. Later on in life I figured out what all their heavy breathing was about while they did this.

Posted by Theresa H on Friday, Jun 6, 2014 12:13 AM (EST):

Justin, I will keep you in my prayers regarding the trial you are experiencing these days in your Community. (I’m sure others here will do so as well.) The truth is being taught here and there, but the secular culture tends to infiltrate our lives—even within the Church. I remember reading years ago: “The life of man on earth is a warfare….” (Job 7:1) and, “The devil, like a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet 5:8).... But, “Trust in God with all your heart….and He will support you!” (Prov. 3:5-6)

Posted by Justin Krenke on Thursday, Jun 5, 2014 10:13 PM (EST):

I know this is kind of late to be commenting but I think it’s a shame that the LCWR and the sisters who are a part of that group are the only group of women religious that make it in the news and are often times praised and given sympathy for by the different forms of media. While the groups of sisters who are out there everyday in our schools, hospitals and homeless shelter never get any attention for the good work they do while still upholding true Catholic teaching. Also As a seminarian in a religious order I find, at least in my community, that more and more priests, especially the older generation that come out of the craziness of the 60’s after Vatican II, are far more sympathetic and even supportive of the LCWR than those of us who are just now entering. There are a few, and when I saw a few I mean few maybe three of us at the most, who support put our support on the side of the Holy See and feel the LCWR are in the wrong. But we don’t dare speak up because of the backlash from our older confreres would lead to a debate that we would lose simply because lack of numbers and fear of being humiliated for being “old fashioned and in the dark ages” or of being told that we are not “open to the possibility of change, and are not inclusive towards women”. This always seems to be the response. That if we don’t support the LCWR or similar groups, even when they are clearly doing, saying, and teaching things that go against Church doctrine than we are somehow closed minded or sexist. When it has nothing to do with that at all. The issue has nothing to do with gender AT ALL. The issue is the LCWR’s clear disregard for the teachings and doctrines of the very Church they are suppose to be helping to build up. Instead they causing division. It truly is sad and for those of us who are joining religious life in certain congregations that have become more liberal and secular in their thinking, but who also adhere to the teachings of the church, we are finding it hard to find a place in these communities because if we speak up we become ostracized and told that we need to change out thinking if we wish to be a part the community. But if we stay quiet we find it harder and harder to not leave and go elsewhere. This does not just affect the LCWR or women religious but it is even having an affect on men’s communities and the laity as well.

Posted by Theresa H on Thursday, Jun 5, 2014 7:34 AM (EST):

What the members of the LCWR once were (religious sisters faithful to Church teaching), they are not anymore—with perhaps a very few exceptions here and there and in their community nursing homes. I have had first hand experience with them and will never attend one of their meetings again! The article points out more than enough deviations pertaining to matters of faith and morals. Parents with children in Catholic schools with these sisters need to be made aware of what they are exposing their children to. (Who would have ever thought of such a thing 20-30 years ago!) If Pope Benedict gave Sister Keehan a medal it was at the recommendation of others; it was also not an “infallible” action on the part of the Pope.

Posted by James on Thursday, Jun 5, 2014 6:48 AM (EST):

Sister Keehan seems to be in good standing with the Vatican, even earning a medal from Pope Benedict. Some factions of Catholics think the ACA in insufficiently anti abortion, but that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and those bishops against it were never speaking for all Catholics. It became an American partisan issue, reflecting poorly on a church that has been pushing for universal healthcare for decades, only to be partisan hatchet men when it actually comes through. Psh for the health care because that is how you get people help that need it - the Christian thing to do. Fight abortion if you must, but do it rationally, in ways that earn you support and not resistance.

In the United States political system, following Catholic social doctrine would make one a socially conservative Democrat. The Republican Party is and always has been the party of white Protestant America. The Democratic Party is and always has been a coalition party.

I think a lot of the emphasis on social issues, especially abortion, is because Republicans desperately need Catholic votes and Republican Catholics really push these hard. Notably, the social issues are far less important among Latino Catholics, who do vote overwhelmingly Democratic.

Posted by James on Thursday, Jun 5, 2014 6:39 AM (EST):

My mother once told me a story about how the nuns “changed” when she was growing up: “When I was a child, I thought I wanted to be a nun. But then nuns stopped dressing like nuns and started dressing like lesbians. And I’m not a lesbian.”

I see the problems of the LWCR are the other side of the coin as the priest molestation scandal. Basically, religious life was the “closet” of the Church before Vatican II and all the problems that were stuffed in the closet before the council burst out afterwards as discipline became lax.

While I am grateful that my mother decided not to be a nun for obvious reasons, I do wonder how many people were kept away from vocations because of the conditions of the religious orders?

As a young male religious I have taken many licks over the years from these ‘open minded’ religious (men and women), Through a variety of workshops I was made to attended, as a part of formation, I knew there were issues once I was asked to pray to the autumn…. The moment I said no and then I was accused of being closed minded…. I knew dialogue was not the goal, these ‘open minded’ religious wanted me to be brought into the horizon of their gospel… Keep up the great work Ann Carey. I’m a firm believer that where the Holy Spirit is there is life!

Pax Tecum.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Monday, Jun 2, 2014 12:03 PM (EST):

@Gabriel: There is probably an interpretation of De Chardin that could be orthodox, albeit extraordinarily unconventional; but his insights (which he did have) probably aren’t worth the trouble of the risks.
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If “Conscience Evolution” isn’t directly De Chardin, it’s definitely influenced by “process theology”, which is actually older than De Chardin (I seem to recall it began among Liberal Protestants who were influenced by Hegel).

Posted by Gabriel on Monday, Jun 2, 2014 3:20 AM (EST):

I only wish that the Cardinal had made it clear that this “conscience evolution” theory is basically warmed over Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. His ideas have already been condemned by the Church. I say this because unfortunately even in some seminaries he is today seen as a misunderstood and brilliant prophet whose day will come.

Posted by DeCarlo on Saturday, May 31, 2014 6:24 PM (EST):

Eddie too, no one has mentioned the doctrines of the Incarnation, Resurrection, etc. We are talking about a group sisters who are not adhereing to the basic teachings of the church, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. When a person denies one teaching of the church, he or she is a heretic. Check the Catholic Catechism.

Posted by eddie too on Saturday, May 31, 2014 2:23 PM (EST):

criticizing our Lord Jesus for putting men in charge of His Church is maybe the height of audacity and quite a display of ignorance for a person who claims to be a faithful Roman Catholic.

the intellectual and spiritual credentials of people who criticize Jesus for His decisions are rightly questioned among the faithful.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:26 AM (EST):

@John M: The LCWR nuns are not the ones actually doing the work and “getting their hands dirty”; they prefer the lecture circuit and the campaign trail. SOME of them might teach—the better to mold young minds in service to the ideology. But the real work is done by members of orders who find the question of “leadership” (what the L stands for in LCWR) quite beside the point, like the Missionaries of Charity.
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As for “UnChrist-like”, your blithering mindless duckspeak comment puts me in mind of a Bernard of Clairvaux quote: “It ill befits a spouse of the Word to be STUPID.”

Posted by ANNE on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 6:43 AM (EST):

Any ORDER or organization of Nuns such as the LCWR, NETWORK, and Nuns on the BUS (-which are all related)
that does not adhere 100% to the “Doctrine of the Faith” which is contained in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” should be disbanded.
Heresy and schism must not be permitted.
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It is clear that some Orders do not insist that their Members read the Bible and the CCC.
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“….. let us ask ourselves if we have actually taken a few steps to get to know Christ and the truths of faith more, by reading and meditating on the Scriptures, studying the Catechism, steadily approaching the Sacraments.” -Pope Francis, May 15, 2013.

Posted by DeCarlo on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 5:57 AM (EST):

John M, bullying from the hierarchy? The nuns are not teaching the doctrine of the church. Those nuns, such as Sister Johnson, are heretics. Look up the word “heretic” in the Catechism. There are also some priests, bishops, and cardinals who are heretics, Cardinal Kasper is one.

Posted by John M on Monday, May 26, 2014 7:47 PM (EST):

Geez! What Zealotry, what purity of doctrine! So UnChrist-like!

Imagine the fruits of the lifetime of work by 51,000 nuns represented by 1400 nun leaders who are the members of LCWR. They are the ones who have gotten their hands dirty, working down among the People of God. How many exhalted excellencies have taught children or changed a bedpan working with the poor.

OF COURSE, the leadership’s positions—that have gotten them in trouble with the Congregation of the Inquisition of the Curia—doesn’t represent all of those 51,000 nuns, but that is the way representative leadership works.

And yet there is a general approval of their direction of INQUIRY and support for some of the FEW women theologians that our misogynist hierarchy approves. Like Sister Johnson, the award winner for this year, who endured nasty review of her Doctorate hearings by all MEN.

I find the bullying from this Hierarchy and the Curia to be stunning, recognizing that their Moral foundation is represented by 111 out of 189 bishops of the 6-decades of sordid child abuse, to have covered up at least one priest pedophile. That percentage of bishops, 59%, came from the Dallas Morning News investigation report of June 20, 2002. Many of those coverup bishops are still serving in their monarchy. Those coverups were enabled by the Prefect of those 20+ years, Eminence Ratzinger, per reporting by Father Tom Doyle, who sat in the Nuncio office, watching the complaint letters flowing to the Vatican, and back with instructions.

Holiness Francis 1 support for Mueller is strange, considering his observed actions. He will probably turn out just as doctrinaire as all the others. And most of the commenters on this thread.

Posted by Timmy on Monday, May 26, 2014 5:52 PM (EST):

You sound like you have a very solid vocation, Sr. Mary Brigid. God will provide, and I will have you in my prayers also. May Christ’s peace be in your heart and soul.

Posted by Sister Mary Brigid on Monday, May 26, 2014 1:30 PM (EST):

@Theresa H
Thank you for your prayers! They are needed for all of us in formation that love Holy Mother Church! Though our community is using these “intercommunity novitiates”, I pray I’m not forced to follow the garbage they preach. So far our community is NOT LCWR. Should this community support anything that goes against Church teaching, I would definitely “shake the dust off my sandals” and see another community (though that process is very, very difficult.) Unfortunately this all has me sleeping with one eye open…I never thought that my greatest fear in formation would be the possibility of my community denying the Catholic Faith!

Posted by Theresa H on Monday, May 26, 2014 11:51 AM (EST):

Sr. Mary Brigid, if I may say: “we” will keep you in prayer that you may stand firm in the faith as held by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church—in the midst of your community….Nonetheless, if it becomes difficult to live in peace and faith, it may be possible to transfer to another faith-full religious community. (E.g., like the Sisters of Life and at least a few other Religious Communities.)

Posted by Timmy on Sunday, May 25, 2014 9:35 AM (EST):

Some of the “sisters” in the LCWR are already excommunicated ‘latae sententiae’, given that you can only stray so far from Catholic teaching before you “excommunicate” yourself. The real coup de gras will simply be when the Vatican withdraws LCWR’s canonical status as a leadership conference of sisters. Leadership will disintegrate without formal Catholic standing (canonical status), and the younger sisters will have to decide if Catholicism is really for them. This can happen quietly, or at least die quietly without the unfortunate press attacks on the Vatican). Time is on the Vatican’s side as they reveal more of what is going on in LCWR, and LCWR’s lack of allowing Archbishop Sartain (may God be with him) to review their PR releases, their awards, their meeting agendas, etc. There is another leadership conference with canonical standing in the U.S., obedient to the Pope and the Church: The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR). It will soon stand alone, and the LCWR will be forgotten in a few years (and Sr. Carol Sheehan). May God’s love and mercy be with them all.

Posted by DeCarlo on Sunday, May 25, 2014 8:34 AM (EST):

Mikehorn, fight abortion (murder) rationally? You must be mad!

Posted by Mikehorn on Saturday, May 24, 2014 7:10 PM (EST):

Sister Keehan seems to be in good standing with the Vatican, even earning a medal from Pope Benedict. Some factions of Catholics think the ACA in insufficiently anti abortion, but that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and those bishops against it were never speaking for all Catholics. It became an American partisan issue, reflecting poorly on a church that has been pushing for universal healthcare for decades, only to be partisan hatchet men when it actually comes through. Psh for the health care because that is how you get people help that need it - the Christian thing to do. Fight abortion if you must, but do it rationally, in ways that earn you support and not resistance.

Posted by Catherine on Saturday, May 24, 2014 5:48 PM (EST):

I have the utmost respect and even admiration for any woman who becomes a Catholic Sister. Every one of them have led exemplary lives and given so very much, in so many ways. And their generosity is inspiring beyond words, as is their fidelity to Jesus Christ.

Now, with that said, I think that the Sisters who are deluding themselves about who they are, what the Church is, and what they are going to be able to do, are just plain FOOLS. What astonishes me is the degree to which a group or groups of women can speak to each other for so long, whipping each other up into this kind of frenzy, and NOT EVEN SEE THEIR OWN BLINDNESS. Truly, to me, it is stunning. The narcissism that I believe I see in their attitudes and behavior is tragic.

It is heartening to learn that their leadership apparently wants somehow to work with the Magisterium, and they do, after all is said and done, value their Canonical status.

I also think that the Catholic hierarchy, much as I revere the individuals and the offices they hold; is the last hard-core “Old Boys’ Club” on earth. It is plain to see how hard male apologist, some priests, and some other men in the Church, work to make SURE WE ALL KNOW THAT WOMEN CANNOT DO THIS OR THAT because, after all, WOMEN ARE NOT MEN. Fair enough.

However, I agree with Pope Francis here: The Catholic Church needs to take a good, hard look, with a lot of prayer AND INCLUDING THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN - nuns, sisters, laywomen, mothers, whoever they may be - in the church, to come up with a more equitable way of sharing both responsibility and “power”. I can see that our Pope knows that women’s voices are shut out, that we are not equitably represented in places that really matter. To him I say, “Hurrah! Please, let us go forward, not as the LCWR wanted us all to do, but as Christ today, speaking through MANY Catholic women would have us do, in justice.”

Posted by Tom in AZ on Saturday, May 24, 2014 8:06 AM (EST):

@rick: Your ignorance of stats, as pointed out by DeCarlo (although there is also the fact it’s ONLY “conservative” Catholics whose children are becoming priests and religious—the only religious in any other kind of Catholicism are pushing the centennial mark), is exceeded only by your ignorance of what Gnosticism is.
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Gnosticism is a specific set of doctrines relating to an esoteric soteriology, and one of about two kinds of emanationist pantheist cosmology; as far as “never bodies” is concerned, well, Mormons are Gnostics (of the Hermetic rather than Manichean variety—admit now that you don’t know what that means), and they deny the existence of everything EXCEPT “bodies”.
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The rest of your little rant there is just Know-Nothing Anglo Jingo No-Popery. How many tries does it take for you to get your white hood on with the eye-holes in front? Did your Grand Wizard have to resort to hand-puppets to teach you that propaganda you just spouted, or were the board-books in “beginning reader” diction sufficient?

Posted by DeCarlo on Saturday, May 24, 2014 6:04 AM (EST):

Rick, the Catholic pop. of the USA is holding steady. It is the Protestant pop. that has gone from 51% to 48%.

Posted by Honest Abe on Friday, May 23, 2014 5:49 PM (EST):

So sad to learn that a few nuns could cause so much upheaval in the church.

They should leave the church, as they are no longer married to Christ.
They now serve a different master—and are in jeopardy of losing their souls.

Of course, if they left the church, they would not be able to destroy it from within. Clearly, their objective is to make the church and its teachings unrecognizable.

Sister Carol’s role in advancing ObamaCare, in particular, is an ex-communicable offense. Clearly, she has no empathy for the lives and human rights of unborn children.

Without doubt, the egos of these sisters are their collective ruination.

Pride goeth before the fall—and these sisters are much like the fallen angels of the Gospel.

Posted by Pablo on Friday, May 23, 2014 4:45 PM (EST):

This conversation went nasty pretty. I am out.

Posted by rick on Friday, May 23, 2014 4:28 PM (EST):

LCWR is dying off. Not to be replaced. Catholic religious are dying away in American culture, and the so-called “Catholics” on this site are cheerleading. Even younger hispanics are leaving the church at never-seen-before rates.

Good. Fewer Catholics heading institutions mean fewer Catholic institutions in America. I’m happy to see RCC grow weaker in this society. Close the churches, close the third-rate hospitals. Conservative catholics are Gnostics (all doctrines and beliefs, never BODIES). How many of your children are becoming priests and religious? Thought so.

No justice, no love.

Posted by Theresa H on Friday, May 23, 2014 3:36 AM (EST):

Since Sisters don’t have convents anymore, we have two obviously older Sisters who attend our 8AM Mass every Sunday. They wear a modest, below-the-knee black suit and a black veil. There are a few communities of Sister that wear a full habit; we see them on EWTN….Little by little they are growing and will continue to grow, I do pray and believe. They teach school….So some of our children are getting the needed education in faith and morals—assuming their parents (who send them to these schools) are supportive of the training as well….Seems to me we are living in a kind of modern “Dark Age”....

Posted by Mary@42 on Friday, May 23, 2014 2:10 AM (EST):

“......WE WERE TAUGHT, AND I QUOTE: “There is no moral truth, we each have our own truth;” “We get too distracted by the divinity of the thing” (talking about the Blessed Sacrament); “Nowhere in the Bible does it say that homosexual acts are wrong;” “Modern theologians have redefined ‘fruitfulness’ away from simply meaning procreation (said in defense of gay marriage); “We don’t need books of ‘rules’ or ‘laws’ or a ‘catechism’ to tell us what is right;” “The Vatican and the Catholic Church simply haven’t caught up with our modern thinking and modern theology.”

I state: These women are Satan’s Agents. They must be stripped of the Name CATHOLIC immediately. Let the world know they are permanently no longer part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Then they can follow their Master to Hell

Posted by Sheena on Thursday, May 22, 2014 9:09 PM (EST):

I am afraid I have to agree with Ann on this. The time for Dialogue is turning instead into a monologue. Perhaps with the excommunication today of the head of WE Are Church in Austria for trying to simulate a Mass with another woman the Pope will have the LCWR the next group to be excommunication as well, because this so called dialogue has not worked with these dissidents. It needs to be used more often to show Rome means business and Playtime is OVER.

Posted by DeCarlo on Thursday, May 22, 2014 3:38 PM (EST):

Apologize to the nuns who are not teaching Catholic doctrine? Am I reading correctly? It is the nuns who should, first, go to confession and confess their sins against the church, and then apologize to all Catholics for their heretical stance. What is happening to this church? (rhetorical question)

Posted by David on Thursday, May 22, 2014 11:52 AM (EST):

Dear Editor,

After reading the ‘Derangement’ responses, I think it might be better to seriously consider that the level of misinformation, uneducated nonsense,and downright mean-spirited judgments are not worthy of a Roman Catholic publication - let alone uttered by Christians. It might be better to not have postings than to have the level of discourse like this to continue. I hope that you find this level of discourse appalling and take action. Stewing up red meat for mean-spirited discussions is not healthy for the soul.

Posted by K.C.Thomas on Thursday, May 22, 2014 11:17 AM (EST):

It is not clear how the Church can tolerate errors pronounced by some rival nuns. Now it many years that these nuns have been questioning the authority of Pope and the Magisterium. Of course it is the duty of the Church to point out their wrong assertions and rebellious views on matters of faith. If they do not heed,it is advisable to oust them and consider them as non catholic.

Posted by chris awo on Thursday, May 22, 2014 3:48 AM (EST):

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Posted by Don on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 2:33 PM (EDT):

“I’m sorry, but I have to say that it would not surprise me a bit to hear in the next few weeks that Sr, Elizabeth Johnson received a personal phone call from the Pope in which he told her not to worry and keep on doing what she feels her conscience requires.”
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You got it, Don. Birds of the same feather. Lets not deceive ourselves. Birds of the same feather. Yes, pursuing different heresies. But heresy is heresy. In this case heresies designed to pander to the human body.

Posted by Pablo on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:03 PM (EST):

What we do here is one small way to bring the LCWR to public eye. Tweeter, FaceBook, Google+, Pinterest and other digital media can be used by everyone on this small group. Others who read it will repost.
That is the way those against the faith do it and it works.

Posted by Tony on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 9:44 PM (EST):

There are so few nuns anymore, people should be careful to be specific about what orders and individuals are teaching heresy, and to also identify and encourage those orders and individual nuns who are faithful. Focus needs to be on the heresies themselves. The media us having a field day portraying Vatican concerns as simple misogyny by fuddy duddy chauvinists because the heresies are ignored or glossed over in the coverage.

Posted by Elizabeth D on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 8:37 PM (EST):

The article states that in a memo to LCWR members, LCWR officers recounted that they “told the CDF they were “exploring these areas of contemporary culture, not proposing them” or “using them to replace our firm commitment to the Christological foundation of consecrated life.””

It is completely plain that there are more than a few sisters who have clearly very much bought into the “conscious evolution” type belief system. One that comes to mind is in the dissident sisters documentary film “Band of Sisters” one can view Sister Nancy Sylvester, a former head of both LCWR and NETWORK Lobby effusing about her new pantheistic/panentheistic belief system and its leaders (Thomas Berry etc) and she explains to us that in the New Cosmology there’s no heaven or hell. These types of beliefs are common in LCWR circles, and it is very, very easy to verify that. Barbara Marx Hubbard was there because that’s what quite a few believe in. And they want it to be just as accepted for them to believe in that, as to believe in Catholicism… and to remain religious sisters and leaders of their religious communities.

(The thing that is truly unacceptable, and I am not really kidding, is to like EWTN! I was able to verify from multiple sources that the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa (WI) had a cable technician specifically block EWTN from their entire motherhouse/retirement complex.)

The sad reality is, there is a phenomenon of some (more than a handful, and in many different orders) religious sisters who are no longer believing and practicing Catholics. Some of them actively want to dissociate themselves from what they call “the institutional church.” But they want to remain sisters. Some of them want “non canonical forms of membership” in their religious community so they can leave the Catholic Church but stay a fully participating member of their religious community… which is complete and utter nonsense.

Posted by John on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 7:11 PM (EST):

It is a sad mess and I do not believe it will end well. I do not think there is any desire for the LCWR to really reform, nor do I think that a group of seemingly radicalized feminists will respect the authority of men generally over their odd kingdom. I hope I am wrong, and perhaps some of them may come to accept the idea of submission to authentic good authority, but if I were to bet, I would say that the leadership at least, may be incapable of reform for various reasons. But I don’t think the problem is limited to the LCWR, I think they are emblematic of far wider breaches in unity that include colleges and universities and hospital administrations and on and on. They are however (the LCWR) a point of contagion, a nexus if you will, that has seemingly been compromised for a long long long time. It may be kind of like gangrene in a spiritual sense; I wonder if it had been addressed forty years or more ago and if care and attention were rendered at that time if we would be where it is today? I hope it can be fixed, but frankly I really doubt it, and I would bet that in the end they will just scream and yell and protest and it will make nice press and news for them for awhile but in the end they are dust, they should think of that - vanity vanity all is vanity; especially theological nonsense, ignorance, and pride.

Posted by Maria on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 6:22 PM (EST):

When I was in a Catholic High School many years ago-staffed largely by nuns-I often thought “Why would anyone want to join up with this group-all the old ideals seemed to be in flux- Christ, the Eucharist, loyalty to the Pope, the saints,” I sensed that something was missing but was too young to know what it was…as the years went by, I came to realize it was that radical feminism had replaced the old ideals. I saw nuns who were little more than laywomen..the old sense of community and prayer and discipline had been superceded. I saw nuns from my old teaching order escorting women to abortion clincs “in solidarity.” I saw the Nun on a Bus introducing Obama’s Democratic Convention. All the while, I thought, surely these orders have been hi-jacked by the younger nuns- the older ones must be furious to see the cause they have given their lives for so degraded. But no, I recently had occasion to talk to an elederly nun from an LWRC order calling us periodically from her Order’s Retirement home. I finally asked her, “Sister, do you follow the Magisterium? Yes or No? She dodged and parried but finally said “We follow Women’s Rights.” Since then I have come in contact with many traditional Orders and they have re-affirmed my faith in the religious life for women(they are not in the LWRC). These orders are indeed growing and thriving. The older orders are becoming dinosaurs. Very few applicants to replace them! To me it is all so silly- these older “communities” remind me of a group of silly teen-age girls who are on to a new fad- but they are ridiculous because their new “fad” is sadly behind the times and they are not only making themselves look undignified but ridiculous. They are on the barricades, but there is no one there to care, except the liberal press.

Posted by Arthur Mullin on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 5:48 PM (EST):

I wonder what Mother Teresa would think of the LCWR.

Posted by Rick on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 5:24 PM (EST):

The nuns are the ones out there living the Word. Living with the poor, taking care of the sick. The hierarchy hates their example because they are a living reminder that Christ didn’t come to start an institution, he came to start a movement.
As to Beth Johnson, the woman is genius and may well be the world’s greatest living theologian.

Posted by Amy on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 4:07 PM (EST):

@Tom, That is indeed the intent of excommunication, but I’m not convinced that it would function that way in this case. Most people today do not understand what excommunication actually is and equate it with shunning or punishment (including those calling for it). If the person being excommunicated believes this, it ceases to be a remedy and could serve only to further damage the relationship.
.
I’m not sure what the best course would be, but I do not think it is simple as “excommunicate them all”

Posted by Tom in AZ on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 3:59 PM (EST):

@Amy: That would be my point. Excommunication’s purpose is to remind people that they are not in a normal relationship with the Church—it is not ENDING their relationship with the Church.

Posted by Jon on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 3:51 PM (EST):

Personally I think the sisters should “excommunicate” themselves. Just firmly and finally break from any formal association with the Vatican. Be done with it already.

Posted by Amy on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 3:43 PM (EST):

Deserve? I daresay they do. But if we demand others get what they deserve, what right have we to ask for mercy rather than for what we deserve?

Posted by Tom in AZ on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 2:39 PM (EST):

@David: Excommunicated? The sisters of LCWR “deserve” to have millstones tied around their necks and be thrown into the sea—Luke 17:2. Discussing measures to bring them to repentance is the very essence of “charity and prudence”.

Take away the “Catholic” label and their consciousness-raising will sail them straight into the cosmic ooze, where no one will pay any attention to them.

They are rapidly depleting the credibility that they inherited from humble and devoted sisters who devoted their quiet lives to teaching, nursing, and other truly charitable vocations. Now they show up on Capitol Hill pretending to represent the “Catholic” political agenda.

It’s not really all that strange that the bishops put up with it. After all, the USCCB buys into the same liberal political agenda. Only when the nuns’ silly seances get truly embarrassing does anyone think it’s time to puncture the balloon of “drivel dialogue” and send out a Vatican reprimand.

Pray for the nuns and for our bishops. And may they take time out of politics to pray for us. As Pope Francis has said, we’ve got to knock—HARD!!!—at them to teach us, like a newborn calf knocks (Hard!) at his mother’s udder to get the milk flowing.

As a farmer, I love that image, and intend to use it - and obey it - often.

Posted by Don on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 1:33 PM (EST):

I’m sorry, but I have to say that it would not surprise me a bit to hear in the next few weeks that Sr, Elizabeth Johnson received a personal phone call from the Pope in which he told her not to worry and keep on doing what she feels her conscience requires.

PLEASE SOMEONE TAKE NOTE: These terribly misguided Sisters in the LCWR are not keeping their doctrinal errors to themselves. They are actively spreading them. They are VERY ACTIVE IN TEACHING AND CATECHIZING around the world to novices in formation in both men’s and women’s religious communities, and they are paid handsomely for it. I am a novice who had to suffer through several months of these women “teaching” us at intercommunity conferences. WE WERE TAUGHT, AND I QUOTE: “There is no moral truth, we each have our own truth;” “We get too distracted by the divinity of the thing” (talking about the Blessed Sacrament); “Nowhere in the Bible does it say that homosexual acts are wrong;” “Modern theologians have redefined ‘fruitfulness’ away from simply meaning procreation (said in defense of gay marriage); “We don’t need books of ‘rules’ or ‘laws’ or a ‘catechism’ to tell us what is right;” “The Vatican and the Catholic Church simply haven’t caught up with our modern thinking and modern theology.” And these are but a few of many.

CAN SOMEONE HELP STOP THESE WOMEN FROM TEACHING THIS TRIPE TO US NOVICES?

I understand that Holy Mother Church wants to be patient with these women, but all the while these women are zealously and very actively spreading their lies to thousands in formation for religious life. Please help. I have almost left religious life because I had to listen to them (many small communities like ours feel compelled to use ‘intercommunity novitiates’ where we are fed this garbage). I thank God my community is not in the LCWR. If they joined, I would leave. Please dear God have mercy on us.

Posted by charles on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:54 PM (EST):

David,
Excommunication is a pastoral tool. It has a purpose and needs to be used in certain circumstances. If it is never used, people step out of line and lead others astray. It is that simple. Based on their words and actions, the sisters deserve excommunication.

Posted by charles on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:47 PM (EST):

Yes, exactly, it is a charade of dialogue. Julie T. makes a good point, entire congregations need to be jettisoned, if they are unable to comply with the teachings of the church. If the church is shaken to its foundations by this, then that is the price to be paid.
Watch, you will increasingly see lay catholics demand that church leadership be consistent with church teaching.

Posted by BenDodsonicn on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:33 PM (EST):

What is most disturbing about this small group of nuns is that they seem unable to tell the truth. Time and again, they say things like we are “exploring these areas of contemporary culture, not proposing them”

But they are clearly doing more than exploring. Every issue of their newsletter for quite some time has discussed “Conscious Evolution” which seems to be a theology for those who think they can become gods themselves.
Most of their speakers have a decidly nutty quality to them - sort of Indian Guru babble-doubletalk.

They are uncomfortable being Catholic, and desperately want to be New Age swamis.

Let them go their own separate way.

They are a deep embarassment.

Posted by David on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:27 PM (EST):

It’s just so sad… I hope that charity and prudence are considered before postings of likes of the two postings by robert waligora and and charles of The-sisters-of-the-LCWR-deserve-to-be-excommunicated are released for public viewing. Editorial discretion was not used. Postings like these do not reflect the spirit and goals of this website.

Posted by Julie T. on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:12 PM (EST):

This ridiculous charade of “dialogue” has gone on long enough. These women (not so) religious, with encouragement of fellow dissenters, have sown seeds of confusion, heresy, and scandal for decades. Just two days ago, a local television news program aired a story about, in their words, “ordained Roman Catholic women priests who were ordained by women bishops who had been secretly ordained by two unnamed European bishops ten years ago.” Several viewers, myself included, took to the station’s Facebook page to set them straight about the invalid nature of such “ordinations.” Would it not be better to deprive the LCWR of its legitimacy within the Church, and do the same with entire religious congregations if necessary, than to continue to stand by as they lead more of the poorly catechized toward the possible loss of salvation? The Church doesn’t need another long period of chaos and rebellion like the one that Pope Paul VI had to contend with. May the Holy Spirit watch over and protect all those who would be Christ’s own.

Posted by Saber Walsh on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 11:34 AM (EST):

With friends like that, the LCWR has cemented the opinion if most: the lunatic fringe has taken over and clericalism rules the day. At this point they should consider to which religion they are really called.

Posted by johnnyc on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 11:28 AM (EST):

tammie lee said…..“However, any strong action will result in a noisy public fight, which will be great scnadal, with the LCWR playing the victims in the media”

Your kidding right? Your worried about public relations more than proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ or the souls of these people. That attitude is what got us to where we are now with these dissident groups. They are already a tool of the liberal media. Excommunication is a pastoral action and is administered in concern for the soul. A by product would that it will also be a teaching moment for those inside and outside the Church to actually understand what excommunication is and why it is administered.

Posted by Pablo on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 11:24 AM (EST):

You are right. I support a few Catholic lay organizations but none are sisters. I will look into that. thanks for your thoughts.

Posted by charles on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 11:23 AM (EST):

to tammie
Let them play the victims. The media uproar would last about a week until some other story took precedence. Eventually they would be forgotten with the church being better off in the long run for having taken action.
I say clean the church out regardless of consequence. It really is the only way to get things right. Didn’t God tell us he hates lukewarm garbage.

Those religious sisters of today who are actually faithful to the Magisterium shall be their example, as well as the many Saint-nuns. So we should support them Financially & Spiritually. Let’s show them how much we care for them.

“There must be some reasonable heads in the 12,000 sisters in LCWR who are quiet for whatever reasons.”
Pablo, don’t count on it. When many sisters took the habits & dress/skirts off, & put on man-pants & strange hair-dos, many went off & joined radical movements. Had the Church excommunicated a few back then, maybe some would have been saved. But the Church did nothing to bring them back to the faithful flock, until recently with the CDF. All we can do now is pray for them & financially/spiritually support religious sisters who are actually faithful to the Magisterium.

Posted by Pablo on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:29 AM (EST):

There must be some reasonable heads in the 12,000 sisters in LCWR who are quiet for whatever reasons. These sisters need to be found and addressed, perhaps individually, to come back into Catholic fullness through obedience of our Lord Jesus and his church. Are there any organization of lay Catholics who can do this,to suggest that the faithful sisters move to orders that are faithful to the church of God? The LCWR leaders are a wayward group who are offensive to us lay Catholics. They become an obstacle to those seeking the Catholic faith. It is hard to believe they are allowed to be part of the same faith.
Waiting for attrition leaves the door open for more innocent simple faith sisters to go the path until the die. Then what?

The Sisters will NOT be excommunicated.
Their heresies are ditzy babble, more embarrassment than scandal. Their defense of the mass murder of abortion,while evil, is also silly, and destroys their claim to being moral.

However, any strong action will result in a noisy public fight, which will be great scnadal, with the LCWR playing the victims in the media.

The LCWR’s false teaching have been officially repudiated, which I believe the Vatican sees as the only needed action. They figure why start a war, when demographics is destiny.

15 years ago, 35000, or 70% of their sisters were under 75 years old
Today its 12,000, or 37% of their membership
In 15 years it will be 2500, or 18% of their membership.

Posted by charles on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 8:58 AM (EST):

The sisters of the LCWR deserve to be excommunicated.
The root cause of this problem goes back to the fact that these religious orders are financially independent of the church and therefore cannot be disciplined when they go astray. They wouldn’t pull this nonsense if their properties could be confiscated and they could be tossed out into the street.
These sisters are like an irresponsible college student with daddy’s credit card. If canonical status were removed and the sisters were excommunicated, it would at least signal the beginning of the end of this problem. Nothing less is acceptable.

Posted by robert waligora on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 8:15 AM (EST):

this is the fruit of dialogue…heretics in every pew in todays Church! Would that we had ONE St. John the Baptist today that would call the evil-doers out to their face!

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About Guest Blogger/Ann Carey

Ann Carey is a veteran journalist who has written hundreds of articles for many prestigious Catholic publications during her 31-year career in the Catholic press. She is a member of the Catholic Press Association and has won awards for news and feature writing, as well as investigative reporting. Her specialty is women religious, and she is working on a new, updated edition of her book, Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Communities, to be published by Ignatius Press. She and her husband live in Indiana and are the parents of three grown children.